Out of every Rune Factory game in the series, Rune Factory 5 holds the record for the most boss monsters. This presents a special challenge for the game, as designing boss fights that will challenge players can be a challenge in its own right. With over 30 bosses in one game, not every monster is going to end up being a worthy contender.
While a lame boss here and there isn’t anything unusual, this action RPG/farming sim seems to bounce back and forth between having some truly difficult boss battles and boss fights so easy the player could win them in their sleep.
10 Umbradea Is A Climactic Story Moment, But An Anticlimactic Boss Fight
The first major battle of Rune Factory 5’s story, the battle against Umbradea sees the player battling against the sister of one of their allies. Umbradea has been misled by the larger villain of the story, and the player must battle her to stop her from destroying herself and the world. The setup is brilliant and suspenseful, but unfortunately, the battle isn’t very exciting.
Umbradea’s attacks are slow and telegraphed, making them easy to dodge. There’s also no fear of status ailments, making these attacks even more ineffective. As if that wasn’t enough, she also leaves herself vulnerable for long periods after each attack, which ultimately takes what should be an intense battle and drains all the tension out of it. In the end, it’s too easy to knock Umbradea out of the fight.
9 Fighting The Deader Tree Feels Like Beating A Deader Horse
A recurring boss in the Rune Factory series, the Dead Tree is a massive angry apple tree looking to kill anyone who wanders into its grove. Apparently, its last defeat in Rune Factory 4 was a rough one, as this version of the monster isn’t just dead, but deader. Despite the subtle name change, the Deader Tree fights the exact same way as in previous battles, only slower and in a larger arena.
The larger arena and slower speed are what ultimately make this boss battle fall short. In previous games, the arenas were smaller, which gave the player less room to run, in Rune Factory 5, the arena is much larger, which makes the Deader Tree an ineffective combatant as it shambles around harmlessly.
8 Leviathan Is As Unintimidating As It Appears
Seahorses aren’t the most intimidating-looking sea creatures around, and unfortunately Leviathan is about as harmless as real-world seahorses. Like many of the weaker bosses in Rune Factory 5, Leviathan is slow to attack and slow to move out of danger. That being said, when Leviathan does move, it is rather quick, meaning there will be surprising moments where the player will have to chase the monster down.
Leviathan takes a small turn for the better when it gets enraged. Once half of its health is depleted, Leviathan can restore around a quarter of its hit points. It also has a sweeping geyser attack that’ll surprise players, but ultimately does little to change the difficulty of the fight.
7 The Basilisk Is All Hiss And No Burn
A massive fire snake, the Basilisk is a surprising fight in that it bounces back and forth between being too easy and a decent challenge. When above half health, the Basilisk is a pushover with attacks that deal decent damage but leave a fairly generous dodge window for players. Unfortunately, enraging the Basilisk does little to make the fight better.
Once enraged, all of the Basilisk’s attacks have multiple hits. In addition, its spinning ring attack lasts longer and goes faster. Despite that, the attacks of this less than menacing reptile are still easy to see coming and easy to dodge.
6 Skull Dragon Is A Weak Monster, No Bones About It
Facing down an undead dragon is always going to be a scary prospect, but players can take solace in the fact that Skull Dragon has one glaring weakness – it struggles to turn around. In what is possibly the most hilarious weakness for any boss in the game, the Skull Dragon cannot make hairpin turns until it’s enraged.
Once it’s enraged, Skull Dragon can turn around quickly and put its somewhat strong moves to good effect. Sadly for the Skull Dragon, it’s still easy to hide behind the monster’s tail and deal massive damage to it while remaining unharmed.
5 The Dragon Golem Is Statuesque
The Dragon Golem is a strange monster to battle against. This enormous, hulking stone dragon that takes up so much of the arena it’s fought in seems like it would be a major threat, but the reality of the situation is, unfortunately, disappointing. The Dragon Golem barely moves during its fight. It barely even attacks.
Much of the fight is simply the player running around and wailing on the monster while it stands still and occasionally unleashes a massive attack that needs to be dodged. Its attacks are effective, too, which makes its lack of action all the more frustrating, as it could be a challenging boss fight.
4 The Volcanic Dragon May Actually Be A Statue
The only boss monster more baffling than the Dragon Golem is the Volcanic Dragon. While the Dragon Golem occasionally moves, the Volcanic Golem rarely moves. Even worse, when the Volcanic Dragon does move, it’s both easy to dodge and will likely go charging in the wrong direction.
The two dragons have the same attacks, yet Volcanic Dragon uses them less frequently than its weaker counterpart. It’s one of the most confusing moments in the game to face down the Volcanic Dragon, which is clearly meant to be a stronger variant of the Dragon Golem, only for it to be weaker.
3 Fathomless Dread Is An Underwhelming Final Boss
The final boss of the entire Rune Factory 5 story, Fathomless Dread is a truly massive opponent. This abstract creature commands a presence with its massive size and flashy attacks. Unfortunately, this monster’s size is ultimately its downfall. Fathomless Dread drifts calmly across the arena between attacks, and smart players can deal a lot of damage by standing next to it as it floats past.
By doing this, the player can hit Fathomless Dread many, many times as it passes the player, easily dealing plenty of damage with any weapon. Unfortunately, Fathomless Dread doesn’t get much stronger after it’s enraged, making it a disappointing and underwhelming final boss.
2 Even With Three Heads, Cerberus’ Bark Is Still Worse Than Its Bite
Cerberus isn’t just the guardian of the gates to the Underworld in Greek mythology, he’s also the second-weakest boss in Rune Factory 5. While Cerberus is only the second boss of the game, there should still be some sort of a challenge for fresh players to sink their teeth into. Despite that, Cerberus has little meat on its bones, with several weak lunge attacks that are extremely easy to dodge.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, Cerberus also tries (and fails) to copy the move of a boss from Rune Factory 4 by playing dead. Unlike that boss, who played dead as a trick to get a sneak attack on the opponent, Cerberus simply lies there until the player strikes him, giving them a free hit.
1 Even For The First Boss, Kyubi Is Just Too Weak
The first boss in a video game doesn’t need to be tough as nails (unless it’s Dark Souls) but they shouldn’t be a complete pushover. Kyubi, unfortunately, is indeed a complete pushover. The monster darts around her arena and barely attacks the player. Any attacks she does make are easy to see coming, incredibly slow, and also very inaccurate.
The fight against Kyubi is barely even a fight, and in many ways feels a little like the player is the aggressor instead of the boss. The one upshot to this less than stellar boss fight is that players can tame Kyubi later and be pleasantly surprised by the fact that she’s much stronger as a companion than as an enemy.
